The weekly poll's JGB bull-bear diffusion index, calculatedby subtracting the number of bearish market players from thosewho are bullish, came in at minus 16, solidly negative butimproving from minus 33 in the previous week's poll.

Last week's reading was the lowest since the minus 61 markedin early July.

The median forecast for the 10-year JGB yield for the end of this week was 0.720 percent, above Friday'sclosing level of 0.705 percent. Late on Friday,the 10-year yield briefly dipped below the 0.70 percent level to0.695 percent, its lowest since June 2003.

Sentiment deteriorated last week ahead of the generalelection on Dec. 16, at which the ruling party is expected tofare poorly. Main opposition leader Shinzo Abe, a front-runnerto be Japan's next prime minister, has called on the Bank ofJapan to take more drastic easing steps, which has pressured theyen as well as prices of superlong JGBs.

The online survey of 95 JGB market participants from majorinstitutions received 37 responses, for a response rate of 38.9percent. These included 18 responses from "real money" investorsfrom institutions such as banks, pension and investment fundsand insurance companies.

The survey was conducted from Friday to 8:00 a.m. on Monday(2300 GMT on Sunday).

On Monday morning, the benchmark 10-year JGB futures price shed 0.03 point to 144.83, after earlier touching144.90, its highest level since June 2003.